How To Design A Good, Easy And Economical Website - PART 2

Here are some practice recommendations on how to reduce the cost of designing a website so that it suits your needs and budget, without giving up an effective Internet marketing program:

This is PART 2, read PART 1 of this article here

1. Carefully consider your requirements and set priorities before requesting a quote

Too often companies request quotes overly ambitious projects. This invariably leads to a scenario of high costs and the companies end up with the lowest bidder, not necessarily the most profitable.

If you quote based on a powerful content and a goal more attached to reality (which in the end will be seen on your website), it is possible then that the most viable solutions and not just the cheapest are the ones with the possibility of winners in the bidding process for the benefit of your business.

2. Divide the scope of your project in two or three stages

If you divide your project in stages, you get two important benefits. First, you’ll have the opportunity to consider and evaluate those costly but also more profitable solutions, which being not too ambitious can help the project somehow adapt to your budget. The second major advantage is that by implementing a successful first program, it is much easier to justify the next steps since senior management will have full knowledge of the results and support obviously subsequent investment projects.

3. Consider if you really need to publish your website in more than one language

Requesting a quote for the design of a website in three or four languages is as easy as sending an email, but be very careful because surely the cost is going to surprise you. Note that not only the cost of design concept of pages will be increased by two or three times, but you’ll probably need to go to a professional in languages for your business message to reach the target market using the correct words and appropriate sentences. Remember that just because someone speaks Spanish or French, he or she does not necessarily have the ability and time to draft documents in those languages.

Even if it proves necessary to publish the site in two languages, English and Spanish for example, there’s always the option of first designing one version (which can bring more business) and develop the pages in another language in a second version months later.

4. Reduce project development time

It’s always possible to shorten the project development. If you can be very speedy in the delivery of inputs for a web design project, which are primarily text and photography, occasionally databases, and can also undertake your project to one hundred percent, you may be able to negotiate with your agency some kind of discount to reduce project development time. In such a scenario, both companies can get a benefit.

5. Properly select the elements that need to be implemented on your website

It is very common for executives responsible for web projects to request a quote with a range of elements such as forms, animations, banners, instant messaging (chat) and applications to query and update databases, without having discussed their requirements and determined priorities. For access to databases, in many cases the company does not even count with a brief description of the functions to be run on each application.

In these cases, prices between a bid and another can vary significantly due to the interpretation that each provider will give to the customer requirements. In such a scenario, you may end up selecting a proposal that does not necessarily meet your expectations.

Carefully select the elements that your website needs and if necessary discuss with your Internet consultant about the features and benefits of those elements with which you are unfamiliar with. Remember that many of these elements that are found in portals, such as instant messaging, require precisely the levels of traffic that only these sites can achieve. At the time, you may be growing your site and implementing more elements. Just take note that you must start with a site that fits the budget allocated to it now.

In conclusion, as a web project manager for your company, you are obliged not only to select an offer what is within budget, but also that one that allows justifying the following stages of investment explaining those other investments based on the project own results.

Therein lies the key to successful integration of Internet technologies with business processes and operations of your business.

RELATED POSTS

About the Blog Author: Timpa has the mission of providing all entrepreneurs, whether experiencied or not in online business strategies, with the right information to help them manage their businesses online in the best, most time-effective and cost-effective, smarter way.